


The Silence Between

by BigBadLittleRed



Category: The Magicians (TV)
Genre: Angst, Dirty Talk, Fluff and Smut, Hurt/Comfort, Light Dom/sub, M/M, Penny tries to be nice, Post 4x03, Quentin's had a bad day, Sad Quentin, mentions of Daddy KInk, some powerplay
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-02-13
Updated: 2019-02-13
Packaged: 2019-10-27 04:44:25
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,376
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17760011
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/BigBadLittleRed/pseuds/BigBadLittleRed
Summary: Set after the events of The Bad News Bear.Quentin is upset and on edge, Penny decides he wants to help.





	The Silence Between

**Author's Note:**

> ( I haven't written smut in a while, and I was never good at it in the first place so please be gentle. I just really wanted to write this so here it is, take it or leave it I guess. This was written quickly and not really edited, so yeah. )

The flat is consumed with exhausted quiet as the evening pours its darkness into the large space. Josh and Margo had yet to return with the monster, but it was only a matter of time so for now they were resting. None of them had moved to turn on the lights, none of them had really moved at all that Penny knew of. He was holed up in the living room, tucked against the arm of one of the sofas and caught up in the thoughts of himself and the others.

 

He can’t go near Julia, because it hurts to look at her and know that it wasn’t his Julia. Kady can’t come near him, because he’s not her Penny. Everyone’s fucked up in the head and they don’t know what to do other than to survive. Penny actually wonders if it might have better for them to have been left in their other lives until the monster found them and murdered them. He’s tired of it all right now, and he knows that everyone else is.

 

Quentin’s thoughts are the loudest, as they always had been, even in his timeline. There’s a lot of grief in his mind, his thoughts not being able to conjure up as many words as emotions. Penny could close his eyes and taste the sorrow, something bitter and heavy that pushed into his head and made the feeling almost his.

 

They had never quite gotten along but at least in this timeline, Quentin didn’t seem like as much of a screw-up as he could have been. The intensity of Quentin’s thoughts were starting to give him a headache, maudlin, guilty, denial, accepting. He was going through multiple cycles of it, spinning in a repetitive cycle that didn’t give away to any sort of resolution.

 

If he looks across the room, Kady is laid out on another couch. She had given Marina the bad luck bear in the form of a coin, and Penny respected it to a degree. She currently had a tiny puppy curled up on her stomach, fast asleep under her gentle fingers caressing at its fur. She exuded confidence and luck, because of what she had done, but he knew what was underneath.

 

Kady is smart, quick-thinking, and Penny knows that crossing her would be a bad decision. She’s beautiful, broken, and he can understand why their timeline’s Penny got on so well with her. But she didn’t quite fit with him, because although he had seen a lot of shit, his Jules had taken the time to worm her way inside him. He wasn’t the same Penny that got into Brakebills, he didn’t have as many sharp edges as he used to.

 

“Just stop, okay?!” He startles from his thoughts at the sound of Quentin snapping suddenly. It breaks the quiet in the flat, leaves his ears ringing slightly. Quentin’s thoughts had soured further, something sharp and jagged that bordered on rage.

 

“You can’t fix this, you can’t fix me!” Penny stands up, walking silently over to the doorway where the dining room is.

 

“Q, please just… Come sit.” Julia says gently, not having stood from her chair. Quentin was pacing, his body stiff and tense, ready to lash out.

 

Julia catches sight of Penny standing at the threshold, she shakes her head at him in warning. He shouldn’t be here, would probably only escalate the situation. But Quentin’s father is dead, his cancer had returned, and he had spent months waiting for his son to return. He had died without saying goodbye, and the guilt in Quentin’s mind is sour and painful.

 

Penny should walk away, he doesn’t give much of a shit about Quentin Coldwater. The images of him as a terrifying shadeless being haunts him, knowing that he had killed Julia without a damn hesitation. He should hate him, loathe him, but at the same time he knows that this is a different person. He remembers what the monster had said when it was deciding who to kill.

 

_“You care about all of them, so you’re last.”_

 

Penny didn’t know a whole lot about this Quentin, but it seemed like he was trying his best to make things right. The other Quentin and him, before the Beast, weren’t the best of friends. But sometimes, just sometimes, he can remember how they would share a brief upturning of lips at a quiet joke between them. They hadn’t always been enemies, not in his timeline at least. And although this timeline’s Penny had hated this Quentin’s guts, it didn’t mean he had to hate him.

 

“What do you want?” His eyes refocus, finding Quentin glaring at him intensely with his hands balled into fists.

 

“I’m sorry,” He says, and you would think Penny slapped him across the face with the look of shock that stares back at him. “About your dad, and… I guess about calling you a loser.” He shrugs.

 

“Whatever.” Quentin looks away, crossing his arms. Vulnerable, he looked vulnerable and unsure, because this was new ground. The other Penny hadn’t really ever said anything like that to him before, his thoughts proved it.

 

“Take a walk, man.” Penny nods his head behind him, Quentin squints at him in mild suspicion.

 

“No.” He scoffs in defiance.

 

“All right, fine. Stand here and yell at the only person trying to help you.” He mutters, turning on his heel and walking away.

 

He ends up in one of the bedrooms, feeling a bit calmer now that he was isolated away from the others. It felt weird to be with those people, they were like echoes of a horrible nightmare sometimes. He could remember them, all similar but not the same, and knows that in his timeline most of them had been brutally murdered.

 

After a few minutes, he can hear yelling, first just Quentin but then Julia as well. It escalates, he tries to block it out, only catches a few words here and there through the walls. He wishes he had something to dull out the voices in his head, he’d have to get some money and find a guy to pick some up and that might take a while. He relaxes back against his pillow and hears the sound of the front door slamming followed by angry footsteps stomping down the hall.

 

The door flings open, and Penny sits up as Quentin freezes in the doorway. Even in the dim light, he can see the fresh tears on his face, new ones building up in his eyes and making them watery. His expression scrunches up into something frustrated and fed up, he sighs through his nose angrily and turns quickly to search for another room.

 

Penny could just ignore it, he could lay down and try to block it all out until he fell asleep. But with the state of Quentin’s erratic thoughts, it would be hours before that happened. He wanted to feel irritation at the little geek, but he could only feel bad for having piled onto him today. He had said some things, acted cold to him in a way he didn’t deserve. It was the way Penny was a lot of the time, but he had been piling it on like this with Quentin because of the Beast. But this Quentin had never been the Beast, hadn’t hurt his Julia, it wasn’t justified.

 

“Fuck.” He sighs under his breath, standing up and exiting the room.

 

It takes him a few seconds to find Quentin, opening the door and finding him sitting on the carpet at the foot of a bed. He’s all curled up, tears flowing a little more freely, but when he spots Penny his expression hardens into anger once more. The smaller man stands to his feet, storming over, Penny holds up his hands in surrender.

 

“Whoa,” He says, but then Quentin shoves at him.

 

“Can’t you just fucking leave me alone?” He demands, voice trembling as he pushes at Penny again.

 

“Listen,” He tries again, but the other swings at him and he ends up grabbing both of Quentin’s wrists and restraining him. “Stop.” He insists.

 

“Let go!” Quentin tries to pull away, but he’s always been a bit of a pipsqueak and his distress has only weakened him.

 

“Hitting me isn’t gonna bring him back, yelling at Julia isn’t going to either.” He says quietly, Quentin scowls at him and ducks his head.

 

He’s stopped trying to pull away, and it’s a bit awkward holding his wrists but Penny keeps doing it. Because at least Quentin is quiet, very quiet actually, his thoughts slowing down a little. He can hear a few other things running through Quentin’s mind, and his own eyes widen at the rather sexual nature of his thoughts. Sure, Quentin was attractive, but he’d never thought this would be… Well, a thing.

 

“What do you want?” Quentin asks, a repetition of earlier, only more miserable this time. At least he’s stopped crying, tears drying on his face.

 

“I’m trying to… Help.” He decides, Quentin huffs softly in disbelief.

 

“Right.” He grumbles.

 

“Your Penny might have hated you, but we weren’t enemies at first in my timeline.” Penny says honestly, Quentin looks up at him with a slightly raised eyebrow. “I’m serious.” He insists.

 

“So you only hate me because of…” He seems almost unable to say it, frowning down at one of the wrists that were caught in Penny’s firm grip. “The Beast?”

 

“I don’t hate you,” He argues, rolling his eyes. “But yeah, I guess.” He shrugs, lowering Quentin’s wrists between them but not yet letting go.

 

“Wasn’t me, though. I mean it was, but…” He murmurs, Penny nods.

 

“I know that.” He allows, and then there’s a long silence between them.

 

Quentin looks up at him, and Penny’s a fucking mind reader so of course he can hear the smaller man’s intentions. But he doesn’t move, doesn’t try to leave, instead he stands there and lets Quentin go up onto his toes and kiss him. It’s a bad idea, a terrible fucking idea, but Penny’s a bit emotionally unstable and they could both use a good distraction.

 

He yanks Quentin forward without letting go of him, squeezing his wrists and leaning his head down to meet the other in a deeper kiss. Quentin’s not bad, a bit clumsy, but he makes up for it in eagerness. He finds himself pushing the other back towards the bed, and only then does he let go. He splays a hand on Quentin’s chest as they part, shoving him back onto the mattress.

 

“Strip.” He says firmly, the other scrambling backwards up the bed and fumbling with his belt.

 

Penny quickly yanks his shirt over his head, turning back to shut the door and lock it. He didn’t want Julia or Kady walking in to see them like this, that would be awkward to explain. He locates his wallet in his pants, or rather DJ Hansel’s wallet. He’s got little packets of lube and three condoms stuffed inside, and Penny respects the guy a little more because of it. He tugs his jeans down over his hips, kicking his way out of them and climbing back up onto the bed.

 

Quentin has managed to get naked rather quickly, sitting awkwardly at the head of the bed. Penny grabs hold of Quentin’s bare ankle, tugging him down the bed and underneath him. They meet in another rough kiss, and Penny automatically finds Quentin’s wrists to pin them down onto the bed. The young man lets out a throaty moan, and Penny smirks to himself as he turns his head to kiss at Quentin’s neck.

 

Never let it be said that Penny would ever turn down an easy fuck, and Quentin had always been the campus bicycle in his timeline. The only reason they were never together was because Penny had been so smitten with Julia. He doesn’t like the thought of Julia crossing his mind during this, so he quickly banishes any other stream of drivel for leaning down and dragging his teeth over Quentin’s right nipple.

 

“Fuck,” Quentin breathes, dropping his head back against the mattress and panting softly. He thrusts up against Penny’s crotch, squirming restlessly beneath him. It figures that he would be fidgety even in bed. He reaches down and takes Quentin’s cock into his hand, stroking it a few times.

 

“Gimme a second.” Penny jokes in return, then holds up a lube packet. “You up?” He asks, just because he’s not an asshole, and Quentin nods enthusiastically.

 

“Fuck yes,” Well, at least Quentin seems a little less able to form his usual babbling when he’s being occupied.

 

“All right, stop squirming.” Penny snaps when Quentin wriggles under him yet again. There’s a brief pause as their eyes meet, and Penny can see a shine of defiance in Quentin’s gaze.

 

“Make me.” He says quietly, voice betraying his excitement, and Penny raises an eyebrow.

 

“Oh, I will.” There’s a brief moment where Penny grabs at his wrists and Quentin resists, but it’s all in the game and Quentin’s thoughts are filled with how much he wants this. He always liked a bit of rough play, and he’s not extremely surprised that Quentin does too.

 

They wrestle for a few seconds, Quentin pushing and pulling, but his smirk gives away the façade. Penny easily overpowers him, turning him over onto his stomach and straddling his back as he pins Quentin’s arms up near his head. He nips at Quentin’s shoulder, chuckling throatily as the other bites down on a moan.

 

“Don’t worry, baby boy, I’ll fuck you nice and good.” He says with a sigh, leaning back to unwrap the condom. “You just gotta be patient.” He smirks.

 

“Never figured you to like petnames in bed.” Quentin teases, Penny inches forward slightly and reaches back to smack the other’s ass in warning. He grunts softly, turning his head to the other side and side eyeing Penny with a bit of a glare.

 

“Maybe you’re special.” He suggests, Quentin snorts in amusement and Penny moves to put the condom on before recalling that he had yet to take off his boxers. “If you move, I’m gonna spank that ass red before I fuck it.” He warns, then slides off to remove his boxers.

 

Quentin, disappointingly enough, doesn’t move even as he takes the time to put his condom on. So when Penny throws a leg over his body to straddle him again, he drags fingers through the other’s hair and tugs on it gently. Quentin leans into the hand, giving a shuddering sigh and squeezing his eyes shut, so he repeats the motion.

 

“Can you fuck me already or are you just gonna be a tease?” Quentin asks with a gasp, Penny pushes his cheek into the mattress with a hand on the back of his head and lets go.

 

“Try to tell me what to do again and the only thing I’ll be doing tonight is fucking your pretty mouth, Coldwater.” He threatens, and Quentin falls quiet, although he doesn’t seem exactly uninterested in that either. “Apologize.” He insists, because he gets off on being in charge and he thinks that Quentin’s getting off on having it all taken away.

 

“Sorry.” He murmurs grudgingly.

 

“Course you are,” He rips open a packet of lube and squirts some on his fingers, doesn’t bother to try and warm it. He sits up on his knees and pries Quentin’s legs apart to kneel between them, sliding two fingers between his cheeks to slick up his hole. He can feel the way Quentin tenses up slightly, making a quiet noise of complaint about the cold lube.

 

“Can you hurry up?” Quentin asks, after he’s spent a moment rubbing and teasing at the other’s entrance. He’s impatient, but Penny thinks he’s just testing him, trying to get him just pissed off enough to get rough again. It’s kind of cute that he thinks he can manipulate Penny into fucking him faster.

 

“Every time you say that, I’m just gonna take even more time.” He says, using his free hand to massage Quentin’s ass cheek as he drags gentle fingers over his hole again and again.

 

“You fucking suck.” He drawls out in complaint, still breathing heavily. He tries to move his hand down, probably to touch himself, but Penny isn’t fucking blind.

 

“That belongs to me, you touch it and I’m gonna have to find something to tie you up with.” Penny tells him idly, presses a finger into him.

 

“H-How is that a threat?” His voice has gone up an octave, breath hitching at the sudden penetration.

 

“It’s not a threat, it’s a promise.” Penny pushes his finger in further, feeling the slight resistance. It takes a little bit to get him relaxed, but not too long. One finger becomes two, and by the third, the silence has stretched between them for too long.

 

“C’mon, man, please.” Quentin whines suddenly, which wasn’t really what he expected.

 

It’s not really what he asks of his partners, usually he just likes to snark and fight and take control. But the concept of Quentin begging for his dick is definitely something that once brought to his mind, makes his dick even harder. It feels like it’s taking forever, and he wants to be fucking Quentin like yesterday, but still.

 

“Beg, baby boy.” Which draws a noise from Quentin’s throat that’s a mix of wounded and painfully turned on. He humps the bed impatiently and Penny smacks his ass in warning once more. “Not starting until you beg.” He twists his fingers in his hole, pushes them deeper.

 

“Penny, please…” He whimpers, toes curling and body stiffening slightly.

 

“Please, what?” He demands.

 

“Please, daddy?” Quentin turns his head slightly, trying to look back at him. Penny chokes on his next breath, coughing a few times and feeling his cheeks heat up slightly.

 

“I was looking for more… Descriptive words.” He tells the other honestly.

 

“Oh, sorry.” Quentin mutters, sounding embarrassed. He wonders if Eliot and him ever did stuff like that, can picture Quentin getting fucked and begging Eliot so sweetly. The word daddy had come to him far too quickly, and he can hear Quentin scolding himself internally for it.

 

“It’s whatever, I don’t care.” Penny pulls his fingers out and presses his dick against Quentin’s entrance.

 

“Fucking finally.” Quentin sighs, tries to arch back into it briefly before moving to get on his hands and knees. Penny lets him, but then decides he doesn’t really like the positioning.

 

“Wait,” Penny says, and Quentin groans in frustration. He sits up and plants both hands on Quentin’s shoulders, shoving him back down.

 

“What the fuck?” Quentin demands.

 

“Shut up.” He snaps, pulling Quentin’s hips back and keeping him up on his knees. “Face down, ass up, it’s a good look on you.” He squeezes Quentin’s hip.

 

“Fine, just fuck me.” He insists.

 

“I don’t like that tone.” Penny taunts, Quentin sighs.

 

“Please fuck me?” He asks gently, Penny nods his head.

 

“Better.” He allows, and then pushes in. Quentin immediately scrabbles for something to grip onto, balling the comforter into his fists and moaning as Penny thrusts his way slowly to the hilt. It takes a few seconds, but once he’s buried deep, he takes a moment to admire it.

 

“Please move.” Quentin’s voice is strangled, softened.

 

He’s only so happy to oblige, pulling back to thrust back in. It takes a little bit to find a good rhythm, but once he does he finds that he gets rather bored quickly. Usually the banter continues into the sex, but it seems like Quentin’s gone quiet other than the occasional whimper or moan being drawn out of him on particular thrusts.

 

When he pulls out, Quentin lets out a noise of complaint, but Penny simply pushes at his hip roughly to turn him over. He maneuvers the other onto his back, and figures that a bit of rough handling might get him more into it. Quentin seems to get it, because he squirms and resists all the way until Penny forces his cock back inside of him.

 

“Good boy.” Penny groans, ducking his head down to kiss Quentin once more.

 

Quentin’s legs scrabble onto his waist, locking behind his back and pulling him in. The second he reaches for his dick however, Penny’s hands are there to grab them and pull them back. He lets out another complaining whine, Penny squeezes his wrists.

 

“Keep ‘em there.” He insists, then lets go of one to spit into his hand. He wraps it around Quentin’s dick once more, the young man bucking up into his grasp and then back down onto his cock.

 

“C-Can I…?” Quentin asks between the sharp gasps and moans shared between them in the small space.

 

“Yeah, come for me…” He insists, stroking at him a little faster. He squeezes his dick a little bit, then strokes at the underside of the head, up and over the slit.

 

“F-Fuck…” He’s glad he turned Quentin over, because he has a bit of a hilarious orgasm face. The way his eyes roll up into his head before squeezing shut, his jaw dropping open as he gasps for air. He even makes a bit of a whimper before he finishes, it’s entertaining to say the least.

 

His body tightens like a vice around Penny’s cock, and he has to push a little harder to keep up his rhythm. It doesn’t take very long to follow Quentin, he drops his forehead onto Quentin’s shoulder and shuts his eyes as pleasure washes over him. He thrusts his way through it, grunting softly as he finishes. They’re both panting quietly as it comes to an end, and then Quentin reaches up gently to run his hand over the back of Penny’s hair.

 

“Thanks,” He mumbles, Penny nods his head and sits up to pull out. He ties off the condom and tosses it off the edge of the bed, then rolls over onto his stomach beside Quentin.

 

They’re both quiet, thoughts running through their heads to fill the silence between them. Penny’s glad he could offer some reprieve for Quentin, but overall, he really wasn’t a bad lay. He could definitely see a repetition of this in the future, if they weren’t busy getting tracked down by the monster and killed painfully.

 

A soft sniffle comes from the other side of the bed, and Penny internally curses. Of course, Quentin Coldwater would fucking cry after sex. He couldn’t just enjoy the afterglow like everyone else, no, he was going to cry. Penny turns over and sits up, finding Quentin sitting with his legs hanging off the bed and his head in his hands.

 

“Hey, c’mon…” Penny says, earning no response.

 

He gets up and tugs his boxers on, then locates his shirt and shrugs that on too. He finds Quentin’s underwear and shirt, then throws it to him. Quentin wipes at his face and looks back at him hesitantly as Penny gets back onto the bed.

 

“You’re already crying, don’t add the awkwardness of being naked to it.” He says, Quentin feebly puts his clothes back on. When he’s in his shirt and boxer briefs, Penny reaches out and catches his wrist before he can leave.

 

“What?” His eyes are red, cheeks stained a splotchy pink.

 

“Come here.” He pulls him onto the bed, and Quentin hesitantly follows. Penny kicks the blankets down from underneath him and tugs them up over their legs, the air in the room growing frigid now that the heat between them had worn off.

 

“You don’t have to-” Quentin starts, but Penny forces him to face away from him before pulling the smaller against his chest.

 

“Just shut up, and don’t tell anyone about this.” He snaps, pulling the covers further up their bodies.

 

“Didn’t picture you as a closet case.” Quentin mutters under his breath.

 

“I meant about the cuddling, dumbass. I don’t give a shit who you tell about the fucking.” He rolls his eyes, then forces his arm under Quentin’s head just so he can get more comfortable. “Now shut up and go to sleep before I change my mind.” He snaps.

 

“Fine.” Quentin falls quiet, but his mind doesn’t.

 

He thinks about letting it be, just letting Quentin think himself into exhaustion. But he can’t handle the thoughts of self-hatred that repeat in a loop over and over again. He reaches up and rubs gently at Quentin’s chest, which seems to distract him a little bit.

 

“Julia… Well, my Julia… She used to sing to me at night, when I couldn’t sleep.” It’s something so raw and exposing that it hurts to say, something he’d never told anyone before.

 

“She used to sing a lot when we were kids.” Quentin tells him, Penny nods his head.

 

“She didn’t have a specific song, or anything like that.” Penny explains, shaking his head as his eyes begin to water. “But it didn’t matter, she just sang whatever she thought of.” He mutters.

 

“You’re not gonna sing to me, are you?” Quentin asks with a bit of a laugh, Penny can’t help but smile.

 

“No, fuck you.” He snorts, squeezes Quentin to his chest and sighs against the back of his head. Some of the tension between them releases, and he feels a little more relaxed.

 

“I know shit’s bad right now, and I’m sorry about your dad… We can’t do anything about that.” He says, Quentin nods his head, can hear the gentle hitch of his breath. “But if Eliot’s alive, we’ll get him back.” He promises.

 

“I know…” Quentin nods once more, voice trembling. “I won’t lose him too.” The determination in his voice reminds Penny of his own love for Julia, and he finds that he admires it. Eliot was lucky to have someone like Quentin in his corner.

 

“You won’t.” He assures, and then they’re quiet once more. He starts to actually drift off, tired from sex despite the white noise of Quentin’s mind.

 

“Penny?” The voice pulls him from his gentle doze. Penny hums under his breath, fingers brushing at Quentin’s sternum in response. “Thank you.”

 

“Shut up and go to bed.” Penny murmurs.


End file.
